In Perpetuum

Chapter 26

Chapter 26: Quid fiery valeat

 

After all the goodbyes had been said and the guests had gone home, Hermione had retreated to the soft glow of her bedroom and reflected on the night she had had.

True enough it had begun as something terrible, in spite of this, it had been a wonderful source of memories for her to look back on.

Her lips tingled at the mere memory of Sirius and herself kissing. It had been warm and tender. Full of passion. In short, it was amazing.

In a couple of weeks there was a Hogsmeade weekend and Hermione and Sirius had already agreed to spend the time together. Of course, they would also be going back to Hogwarts together in the morning. However, she decided that tomorrow was not soon enough.

After pulling on her pyjamas – a pale green tank with silky soft, white pants – she tiptoed softly so that the polished wooden floors would not creak, until she reached the end of the corridor. The lamps that were high above on the walls were not on, owing to the fact that all the occupants of the house had retreated to bed, so she kept the fingertips of one hand gliding across the walls so that she would know where she was at all times.

When she reached the end of the corridor she was faced with two doors. From behind one she could hear the not so quiet snores of Peter, whom was sharing a room with Remus. Hermione’s heart went out the Remus who always took on the most tedious and lacklustre jobs without complaint. Not only was he (and the others) forced to share a dormitory with Peter at Hogwarts, but even when they were away from Hogwarts he had to put up with him. She resolved to make it up to him, but for now her attention was focused on Sirius.

She moved towards the door that was next to Remus and Peter’s. There was no sound coming from the other side of it, but undeterred Hermione carefully turned the knob. Sirius had claimed this bedroom as his even before they all had started at Hogwarts together. Making as little sound as possible she moved swiftly across the room to the enormous four-poster bed in the middle of the room.

She opened the door, flinching slightly at any small noise that was made by the door, to find a dark grey mass spread out under the normally gold coloured covers of the bed. As her eyes adjusted to the lack of light in the room she saw that the lump in the middle was Sirius and that he was lying down, sprawled out on his back. She watched as his chest rose and fell a few times as he breathed out of his slightly agape mouth.

Hermione crept across the room and slid neatly under the covers. She sidled up next to Sirius, leaning into his body for warmth. She felt his arms wrap around her frame and pull her in closer whilst he mumbled incoherently in his sleep.

Hermione took this as a good sign and was sound asleep within moments of her head hitting the pillow.

HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHP

It was the incessant chirruping of the birds and the intense glare of sunlight, which was perfectly positioned on Hermione’s face, that would wake her.

Moving into position for her usual body stretch, she was momentarily confused by a warm weight that was holding her body into place.

Looking around at the red and gold decor of the room she recognised where she was.

She felt Sirius stir next to her. She wondered if he was aware that she had invaded his bed in the dead of the night.

He had not seemed entirely lucid or  at all articulate last night when she came in and she was worried that he would be confused an think of her sudden appearance as an intrusion of privacy.